have
appreciated this drink, for we find, in 1585, that the Mayor of
Waterford sent Lord Burleigh a "rundell of _aqua vitae_;" and in another
letter, in the State Paper Office, dated October 14, 1622, the Lord
Justice Coke sends a "runlett of milde Irish _uskebach_," from his
daughter Peggie (heaven save the mark!) to the "good Lady Coventry,"
because the said Peggie "was so much bound to her ladyship for her great
goodness." However, the said Lord Justice strongly recommends the
_uskebach_ to his lordship, assuring him that "if it please his lordship
next his heart in the morning to drinke a little of this Irish
_uskebach_, it will help to digest all raw humours, expell wynde, and
keep his inward parte warm all the day after." A poor half-starved
Irishman in the present century, could scarcely have brought forward
more extenuating circumstances for his use of the favourite beverage;
and he might have added that _he_ had nothing else to "keep him warm."

[261] _Bricks_.--In an ancient life of St. Kevin of Glendalough, there
is mention made of certain brick-cheeses, which the saint converted into
real bricks, in punishment to a woman for telling a lie.

[262] _King_.--Book of Rights, p. 15.

[263] _Informs us_.--_Domestic Manners_, p. 43.

[264] _Macaulay_.--_Lays of Ancient Rome_.--Horatius.

[265] _Cambrensis_.--"Hinc accidit, ut Episcopi et Abbates, et Sancti in
Hibernia viri cytharas circumferre et in eis modulando pie delectari
consueverunt."--_Cam. Des._ p. 739.

[266] _Observes_.--_Asiatic Researches_, vol. ix. p. 76.

[267] _Asia_.--See Carl Eugen's valuable work on the _Music of Ancient
Nations passim_.

[268] _Country_.--_Erste Wanderung der aeltesten Tonkunst_, von G.W.
Fruh, Essen, 1831. In Conran's _National Music of Ireland_, he
attributes this to the influence of ecclesiastical music. But an article
by Mr. Darmey, in the _Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society_, takes a
much more probable view. The Ambrosian chant, introduced about A.D. 600,
could not have influenced national music which existed for centuries
before that period.

[269] _Shoes_.--The use of inauguration shoes appears to have been very
ancient in Ireland. It will be remembered how early and how frequently
the shoe is mentioned in Scripture in connexion with legal arrangements.
It was obviously an important object in Eastern business transactions.

[270] _Book of Rights_.--The great antiquity and perfect authenticity of
this most v